Town hears concerns about homeless shelter location

Gibsons councillor Silas White says the homeless shelter at 599 Gower Point Road has been hosting about seven people a night since opening on Monday.

White, who pushed hard to get the cold weather shelter up and running, updated fellow councillors at their Feb. 6 meeting, saying the shelter operator, RainCity Housing, has been quick to respond to concerns from residents and that he was “continuing to keep in touch with them to make sure there’s a good mix and a good immersion into the community.”

Some area residents have contacted Coast Reporter to say they felt there was not enough consultation with the neighbourhood before the shelter opened, and others have taken to social media to complain about smoking outdoors, noise, and bright outdoor lighting.

Councillors also heard some of those concerns directly from a couple of Bayview Heights residents who were in the gallery.

One, Brian Sadler, told councillors that while the good news is the town finally has a much-needed shelter, the bad news is that it’s in the wrong place.

Sadler said he’s been hearing from a lot of neighbours with worries that what is supposed to be a temporary arrangement could evolve into something more permanent and that there was “disappointment that there was no public discussion, just the briefing we received [Jan. 22].”

Sadler also said there wasn’t enough information from the Town about whether the shelter, which is on the lower floor of the former Church on the Rock, has met all the necessary building code and regulatory requirements.

“Staff is working with the organization to try to address some of these [questions]. It’s one of these situations where there was an element of urgency,” responded Mayor Wayne Rowe. “Steps were taken to address that and we’re going to try to work through these issues. Sometimes you take the action first, then figure out how you’re going to deal with some of these things.”

Sadler suggested that once the shelter closes for the season at the end of March, the Town should push to have it relocated to the old RCMP building on School Road.  The Town has been trying to get the federal government to grant it the surplus property for several years.

Rowe said it may not be suitable for a shelter, but BC Housing may be interested in working with the Town to create transition housing at the site.

At the committee meeting earlier in the day, Town staff highlighted another aspect of the homelessness issue.

The Parks Department’s quarterly report presented at the meeting said, “The number of complaints we received regarding people living in vehicles exceeds the complaints we received regarding those without vehicles sleeping in parks.”

Director of parks and community services Wendy Gilbertson told the committee she’s aware of at least three women in their 70s living in vans. Her report said, “The Parks Department continues to monitor, liaise with or refer to other agencies, such as bylaw enforcement, police, ambulance and VCH, as required… We cannot necessarily prohibit this use and we try our best to minimize the conflicts.”